Anime Vice News

Quick Picks 12/03/09

What could have gotten Geekachu so upset in this week's Quick Picks?

Man, this week's release schedule is a bit nuts when you get to the manga section-- but don't worry, we'll break down the most important stuff for you. If Geekachu survives, that is.

Aaaaand here are your release lists, as well as links for the releases mentioned in the video. As of this typing I am not aware of any errors, but since these are based on the various release dates I find around the 'net, it's always possible that I've missed stuff, so leave a comment if you see any mistakes!

@Styl3s: Yeah, I usually find that between them and Amazon I can get a good deal most of the time, though I have a fondness for Robert's Corner Anime Store as well. And Anime Nation has some good sales sometimes too.

@Styl3s: Aw, thanks! :) I can't tell you much about Burst Angel, unfortunately; I love Ugetsu Hakua's art, and he did the original character designs for Burst Angel, so I'm pretty confident that it'll *look* great. Story-wise...I don't know. :) It's Gonzo, so it probably has kind of a lame ending but is ultimately watchable. ^_~ Claymore is a really badass series. I've heard that as a manga adaptation it really screws with the story, mostly towards the end, but I really enjoy the show, so if it looks like something up your alley, you'll probably enjoy it. This could be a selling point or a warning based on your tastes: it's very bloody. ;)

@sunflower:Thanks for the tip! I'll add them into the list. It's so hard to get EVERYthing! @_@

Oh god Vexille! XD Now being a sci-fi geek at the very core of my love for all things nerdy and geeky, this was so bad to watch but in a really kind of awesome B-movie style way. Don't get me wrong the production value is fantastic and it looks really amazing but if you are looking for a good and original story I'd look elsewhere. Since the thing with Vexille is the actual movie just rips so many bits and pieces from other famous sci-fi novels, movies and television shows and tries to cram them all into this dark take on the consequences of robotics and cybernetics with a romance subplot that is never explored in any depth, which just comes off as really poorly put together and the dialogue in the film is just as cringe inducing as the overall plot and the ridiculously schizophrenic soundtrack that changes from dark and moody to crazy techno mixed with wailing guitars to quiet for 20 seconds and than moves to the club with some trance music sometimes when nothing is really even happening.

It's weird to since when I first heard it was the people behind Appleseed I was so excited but than after about 20 minutes in I realized how when it comes to creating an original story instead of an established IP they end up falling apart.

I'd go into detail about the problems with the plot and how it's just a copy pasting of a bunch of worn out clichés in storytelling mixed with character and machine designs or references that are ripped from RoboCop, Mad Max, Ghost in the Shell, Dune, and Star Trek being the big ones and just generic sci-fi in a couple spots that stick out but I'm sure I'm missing a few. However it would be pretty spoiler heavy (in case someone actually cares about the story) and probably equivalent to a thousand word rant. Oh there is even a scene ripped straight from the ending of Resident Evil that is at the end of the movie. (the one with just Jill and Chris in the helicopter)

Also I should note it's not exactly that it has this really poor plot it's that the movie takes itself seriously and as a Geekachu says almost like a drama with it which doesn't work when the level of storytelling is so poor.

Suffice to say that if you're looking for a really gorgeous 2D and 3D animation mix and can stand the really terrible story that is so bad it's good (keeping in mind I watched it with a room of about 15 other people and we all made fun about how terribly bad it was in a hilarious B-Movie kind of way) and a soundtrack that has absolutely no awareness of what is actually happening on the screen than you'll probably enjoy watching this movie. I would recommend making sure to get some other people to watch it with you and being of the mindset to not expect a lot from the story at all except for an excuse for big dumb action sequences that look really badass.

Anyway so did anyone else burst out laughing when the video showed some picture of a yaoi manga called Stallion?

"@Konanda: Interesting-- you should post this as a review :) Oh, Stallion. If you ever wanted a Cowboys vs "Injuns" yaoi, well, there it is. ;) I will say that Studio Kosen's art is probably my favorite of the global yaoi creators I've come upon. "

Ya I've been meaning to do some review or wiki contributing stuff for some of the more neglected anime/manga I enjoy. I've really been wanting to do one of Yumekui Kenbun: Nightmare Inspector, which I finished in late September or so when the last volume came out. Especially since it's the mangaka's first manga yet the illustrations are amazing, which part of that is just the unique kind of setting that allows this Victorian and Gothic architecture to be mixed with more traditional Japanese design as well, and by that I don't necessarly mean giyōfū stuff but where you have for instance a sort of hotel building that looks kind of like a small thin shiro but with a kind of stain glass window and the interior is western styled.

Also the way he tells the story is very neat being a kind of Little Petshop of Horrors or xxxHolic (near the beginning of xxxHolic that is) in that up until the last volume [which is the worst being basically all very hurried and unnecessary exposition of this story that has slowly been developing complete with tieing up all loose ends fairly nicely, which takes away all the mystery of the main character] all the chapter's are short stories where the main character a baku (dream eater in this case nightmares) will help the patron with their nightmare but usually ending with something tragic happening to the patron after the leave due to their own flaw in a be careful what you wish for way

I'm going to try to though once final exams are over and I get a little break before second semester.